Investment, risk specialist gets top job at Ares Australia Management

Ares Australia Management (AAM) has hired former Macquarie Group senior investment specialist Teiki Benveniste to head the newly formed group.

AAM was formed as a strategic joint venture between Ares Management Corporation and Fidante Partners in late 2019 with the goal of becoming Australia's leading credit and alternative asset manager.

In his role, Benveniste will liaise with Fidante Partners, which will provide product distribution, local fund reporting, and back-office admin for AAM.

An international investment specialist, Benveniste spent more than six years with Macquarie Group, most recently as the lead senior investment specialist for Macquarie fixed income in Australia. Before that, he spent seven years with Société Générale in London where he held a variety of trading and analyst roles for loan syndications across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

"Ares Australia Management will provide local investors and the country's superannuation system with access to specialist investment expertise in credit and other alternative investments, which will play an important role in delivering high-quality diversified returns for investors' portfolios," said Benveniste.

"With persistently low global interest rates, investors need to find alternative ways to generate attractive income and to achieve targeted returns. Ares has a long track record of delivering high-quality investment solutions across a range of alternative investment strategies with a focus on managing downside risk with a disciplined and selective investment approach."

AAM is expecting to launch its first credit fund in the coming months.

David Sachs of Ares Management Corporating said they were delighted to welcome Benveniste to the fund. "We believe that his broad experience in fixed income investing in Australia and Europe positions him as an excellent leader to build investor interest in the funds and investment strategies of Ares within Australia and New Zealand and to seize the significant opportunities available in the region's market."

Challenge Funds Management CEO Nick Hamilton followed that up, saying, "Everything we do is [centred] on providing our retail and institutional customers with attractive fund management solutions. This joint venture demonstrates our ability to attract leading investment managers globally and reach halfway around the world to bring a leading fund manager like Ares with high-quality products to our market."